Things We Know By Heart Book Review

Looking at the entire genre as a whole, Romance novels are not my cup of tea. In fact, if you’ve been reading my posts you’ll know that this is my first book review strictly in the Romance genre without something fantastical or science-fictional with it. So believe me when I say Things We Know By Heart is a good one.

The story line is ingenious and unique, and Kirby (Jessi Kirby, by the way, not Matthew J. Kirby, author of Icefall) knows it. Quinn, the protagonist, falls in love with Colton, the recipient of her deceased boyfriend’s heart. It allows Kirby to toy with almost every emotion in the human brain: grief, sorrow, loss, love, joy, betrayal, and hope. This, in turn, keeps the reader engaged and the tiniest bit overwhelmed in the best possible way. The ending, in particular, was smart; despite its inevitability, aspects of it still shocked and surprised the reader. All Romance novels require great, well-developed characters more so than any other genre; Quinn and Colton deliver. Their interactions remain human in an inspiring way; each has other problems they must face along the way within the story and aren’t self-absorbed in this newfound relationship. This could not be possible without their families. The characters surrounding Quinn and Colton ground them to Earth, developing not just a romance but a story, something many Romance novels lack. Through this, the novel contains a refreshing authenticity. I also love the facts revolving around the heart before each chapter; they remind the reader of the underlying plot in an inconspicuous way.

“We [Quinn and Colton] sit there, wordless, face-to-face in the glow above and below us. So much light after so much dark.”

Recommended for anyone who needs a different style of romance.

-Grace Nask